Strike plate



C. I. SNYDER STRIKE PLATE July 22, 1952 Filed March 1'7. 1949 INVENToR.

' CARL I. SNYDER BY fj? ATTORNEYS Patented July 22, 1952V STRIKE PLATE Carl I. Snyder, Marshallville, Ohio, assignor to Weather-Seal, Inc., Barberton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application March 17, 1949, Serial No. 871,881

l Claim.

This inventionrelates to strike-plates, moretongue of the plate is beveled or rounded to more readily permit passage of the bolt across the plate, and a singlev opening is provided to receive the bolt and hold it in latching position. With this construction, when it becomes necessary to slam or quickly close a door, such as a storm door or a closet door, such door will frequently not close completely and the bolt will merely strike the beveled tongue of the plate and remain there, or move a short distance across the plate without reaching the opening in the plate that is intended to receive the bolt. Hence, such door may readily be blown open or otherwise opened when it is not intended to be.

It is an object of this invention to provide a strike plate that will permit a door to be slammed against air or other pressure and yet will hold the latch bolt in such position that the door cannot be opened without retracting the bolt.

Another object is to provide a strike-plate that has a second opening in front of the usual opening, arranged just past the beveled end of the tongue with the front edge of the second opening extending slightly beyond the front edge of .the doorjamb, so that when the latch bolt passes over the bevel -of the tongue it will be forced into this second `opening and remain there until the bolt is retracted to release it.

A further object is to provide a modified form of strike plate wherein the metal which is cut out of the plate to form the second opening it not entirely removed from the plate, but is bent toward the doorjamb, so that when a carpenter installs the strike plate on a doorjamb he will have to provide a recess in the doorjamb to receive this bent portion of the plate, which latter opening will thus be properly aligned with the second opening in the plate.

A further object is to provide an improved strike plate which is easy to manufacture, and which may be readily and quickly installed.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a horizontal section through one form of my strike plate showing adjacent parts in elevaton,

Fig. 2 is a similar view through another form of my strike plate,

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the strike plate shown in Fig. l, and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the strike plate shown in Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing and particularly to Figs. 2 and 4, the lnumeral It indicates a strike plate having a conventional latch bolt receiving opening I I formed therein, with the free end of its tongue I2 beveled or rounded as at I3 in the usual manner, and with screw receiving openings I4 formed therein. The described construction constitutes the form of strike plate now in general use.

To the above described construction, Irprovide the plate i0 with a second latch bolt receiving opening I5 which in located between the opening Il and the beveled lend I3 of the tongue I2. The opening I5 is in horizontal alignment with the opening II and is smaller than the latter opening, but is still of suicient size to receive the beveled end of a latch bolt.

Fig. 2 shows the strike plate I0 secured to a doorjamb I6 by means of screws I'l or the like, with the rounded end I3 of the tongue projecting past the front edge cf the doorjamb a sudcient distance to permit the front edge of opening I5 to extend slightly past the front edge of the door- Jamb. The doorjamb is provided in this instance with an enlarged recess I8 in alignment with the openings II and I5 in the plate, and of sufficient depth to receive a latch bolt when it extends into either of the openings II or I5. A portion of a beveled end, spring-pressed latch bolt I 9, carried in a door 20, is shown in full lines in latching position with the beveled end of the bolt extending through the-opening II in the plate and intothe doorjamb recess I8. This full line position of the bolt I9 is the normal position of the bolt when the door 20 is fully closed, as will be understood.

As is well known, it is practically impossible to slam or quickly close a conventional closet door or storm door, due to the air pressure opposing the movement of the door. Thus, while many people attempt to close a door in this manner, they seldom succeed in moving the latch bolt past the rounded end of the tongue on the strike plate. With my construction, however, the front end of the opening I5 extends beyond the front edge of the doorjamb so that enough air is permitted to escape through opening I5 to allow the beveled end of the latch bolt to pass over the tongue of the plate and be forced into the opening l5 by the bolt spring. Thus,

with my arrangement, while the door is not fully closed when the latch bolt is in opening I5, nevertheless the door cannot be opened without retraoting the bolt and removing the latter from opening I5. The position of the latch bolt I9 in opening I5 is clearly shown in broken lines in Fig. 2. After the bolt has become engaged in opening I5, if it is desired to fully close the door, this may be readily done by merely pushing on the door to force the bolt out of opening I5 into opening II, and for the purpose of assisting the beveled end of the bolt in passing from opening I5 to opening II, the edge of the metal at the rear of the opening I5 is beveled, as indicated at 2I.

In Figs. 1 and 3, I have shown a modified form of strike plate I' having the conventional latch bolt receiving opening II', tongue I2', rounded edge I3', screw receiving openings I4 and the second latch bolt receiving opening I5', all similar to their unprimed counterparts in Figs. 2 and 4. In the modified form, however, the metal which is cut out of plate I0' in order to form the opening I5 is not completely removed from the plate, but is cut so that it may :be bent in the direction of the doorjamb to provide fan integral extension 22 on the plate which is spaced from the opening I5' and which is inclined vor beveled as indicated at 23.

When the plate I0 is secured to a doorjamb I6', vas by screws I'I', with the doorjamb having an elongated recess I8 therein similar to the recess I8 in doorjamb I6, it will appear as in Fig. 1 with .the extension 22 extending in the recess I8. The action of the latch bolt I9' of the door 20' with respect to Yopenings I5' Yand II' is shown in Fig. l. When the door 20' is slammed or quickly closed, the bolt I9 is received in the opening I5 as indicated in broken lines, and when fully closed the bolt is received in opening II' as indicated in solid lines. When pushing the kdoor from its broken line position to its solid line position, the inclinedror beveled area 23 on extension 22 assists the beveled end of the latch bolt in passing out of opening I5' into opening II'. Thus. the action-of the latch bolt is the same when using either of the Ystrike plates I0 or I0'.

The extension 22 on plate. I0 also serves an additional purpose. In new door constructions it is an easy matter to cut a single recess in the doorjamb large enough to be in alignment with both latch .boltreceiving openings in the strike plate, and veither plate I0 or I0' may be readily used. But .in old constructions .where an old type conventional strike plate is being replaced by oneof vmy new type plates, it is usually ,found that the doorjamb has but one recess therein whichis opposite the single bolt receiving opening in the old type plate. Such recess obviously must be enlarged or a, second recess must be formed in the doorjamb opposite to the second bolt receiving opening in my plate, in order that the bolt may properly be received in such second opening. However, with some carpenters there is a tendency to replace the old plate with my plate I0, without forming any recess in the doorjamb in alignment with the opening I5, so that in such cases the device will not function properly due to the inability of the bolt to project .far enough through opening I5 to become engaged therein. Thus, in making replacements ofthe nature mentioned, or for that matter with new constructions also, when my strike plate I0' is used, it is impossible to install the latter on a doorjamb without providing a recess in the doorjamb in alignment with opening I5'. because the extension 22 will not permit the plate I0 to lie flush with the doorjamb unless a recess is provided'in the latter .to receive the'extension.

While vI have'illustrated and described the prefered embodiments of my invention, it will be apparentthat theinvention is not limited thereto, and changes and modifications may be made therein withoutdepartingfrom the spirit of the invention or from the scope of the subjoined claim.

What isclaimed is:

A strike plate for a vdoor latch-comprising a at plate having a Amedial opening to receive a latch, an apron extending from one side of said plate, and having an outer edge curved out of the planevof said plate, said apron having a struck portionbentvout-of the plane of -said plate on the same side thereof as said curved edge to provide an'auxiliary opening between said medial opening and said curved edge, and the end of said struck portion-being reversely bent to provide a terminal area `,generally parallel to the plane of said plate.

CARL I. SNYDER.

.REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record inthe filerof this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 847,127 Stewart Mar. 12, 1907 849,865 .Spencer -..v.. Apr. 9, 1907 .1,373,145 Pachesa Mar. 29, 1921 1,553,531 `Hoffman Sept. 15, 1925 1,662,119 Lewis --.--..rg Mar. 13,1928

FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 350,885 Great `Britain June 18, V1931 620,771 France Jan. 24, 192'? 

